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Example research essay topic: Farewell To Arms Nobel Prize For Literature - 3,367 words

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Ernest Hemingway was a profound American writer who earned a Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. During his life he was one of the most influential writers of twentieth century America. Since his tragic suicide in 1961 his influence on American writing has only become more evident. Some of Hemingway s well-known works include The Old Man and the Sea, A Moveable Feast, and A Farewell to Arms. These along with several of his other works established his unique style of characterization through action, the glorification of common men.

Ernest Hemingway places ordinary men in extraordinary situations that force them to show traits such as valor, courage, strength, and compassion. Born in Oak Park Illinois in the year 1899, Ernest Hemingway grew up to be a major influence on American literature. His life took him all over the world and though many tests of character. He was an ambulance driver in World War I before living as an expatriate in Paris. Hemingway was married three times, published countless books, and won the Nobel Prize for literature. His life ended suddenly in 1961 at the age of 62 when he committed suicide.

Hemingway led a life full of adventure and extraordinary experience. He accomplished more in his life than most men and left a definite mark on all of American literature. Ernest Hemingway was one of six children of controlling parents. Growing up in his environment was difficult. The best times he had were on family trips to hunt and fish at Wallon Lake, Michigan.

By his teenage years he despised his mother and fought to break free of the small town world in which he lived. After high school he removed himself from the restricted household and moved to Kansas City. He landed on his feet working as a newspaper reporter for the Kansas City Star. When World War I broke out in Europe he volunteered and became an ambulance driver in Italy. He fell in love with a nurse whom he met during the war; when the war ended he proposed to her. His offer was rejected and he moved to Paris where he again became a reporter.

While in Paris he made friends with such writers as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein. They tried to persuade him to start writing not as a journalist but as a novelist. He took their advice and began work on his first book, a collection of short stories, In Our Time. The book was not a great success but it was successful enough to spur him on to write more.

Hemingway once stated, All modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn (Bartlett's book of quotations). He had a deep respect for Twain s work. By comparing his books with Twain s a reader can see a definite similarity in character development and in a love of reality. One representative part of his writing was his tendency to put common men in situations that test their character. He showed the central male characters in his novels in their true colors. He also said, I know only that what is moral is what I feel good after and what is immoral I feel bad after (Bartlett's Book of quotations).

Living as a common man himself he wanted to overcome the tests in his own life and feel good when he looked back on them. That is not a very complex life style to live. Hemingway realized the more complicated one allows his life to get the farther he is from true human compassion, morality, and ultimately love; love for one s environment, friends, family, and self. Hemingway expresses a feeling evident in his writing when he said, A man can be destroyed but not defeated (The Old Man and the Sea).

He was destroyed; but through the success of his works such as A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, and The Old Man and the Sea he has not been defeated. Defeat lies only within man s mind. In Hemingway s novels he places men in countless situations where they could be defeated. Through their will to live and their courage they somehow find a way to avoid defeat and persevere in life and in love. If that is in fact what he means by the statement, then in life he was defeated the moment he destroyed himself. The protagonist in Ernest Hemingway s novels was usually a man who at first glance had no special characteristics, a man who was not uncommon in any way.

He was neither kind nor cruel, outgoing nor reserved, devout nor irreverent, smart nor obtuse. The main characters in Hemingway s novels are never described with an adjective that is specific or extreme. The protagonist s true characteristics are revealed only through his reaction to the tests that he is put through. After reading the book if one tries to describe the main character only words like good, genuine, and true seem to fit. Hemingway captures his reader s interest by creating characters that they can relate to. In the novel A farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway the main character was an American who joined the Italian army as an ambulance driver.

His name was Lieutenant Frederic Henry. The story opens in late summer as the Italians enter World War I. Henry was stationed in a villa near the Austrian front. He was surrounded by a broad spectrum of people. In the Villa there was a priest, the major, lieutenant Rinaldi, and the captain. The major was an atheist and a very blunt impolite man.

The captain was also an impolite man; he was constantly making fun of the priest. Rinaldi was mild in comparison to the others but he was always on his way to or from the local whorehouse. The priest was a very sweet man and he took the joking well. He cared a lot for Lieutenant Henry and always looked out for him. Henry himself didn t fit in with either the Italians or the priest. He would go with the others to the whorehouse and laugh with the captain at the priest s expense but Hemingway wanted the reader to see something more in Lieutenant Henry.

Henry always talked with the priest. The priest did not approve of all his actions but always saw the good in him. Hemingway wants the reader to identify with the lieutenant s actions. The reader can then see the flaws and the merits of Henry and come to respect him as an equal.

In The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway the protagonist was Santiago an old fisherman living in Cuba. Earlier in his life he had been married. Now he was alone except for Manolin, a boy he had taken into his boat and taught to fish. The old man had gone eighty-five days without catching a fish.

The boy s parents needed money and after the fortieth day they made him go to another boat. The boy loved the old man and still helped him any way he could. Manolin is presented as an innocent and impressionable character. The reader s initial opinion of the old man is based on the boy s. Without Manolin one might get the impression that the old man is weak and completely alone in the world. The boy helps to reveal Santiago s past happiness and success.

Hemingway wants readers to identify with the old man and his past feelings. The readers can see the old man s past, his good times and bad times, and come to respect him as an equal. By introducing the main character as a common man to whom the reader can relate Hemingway involves the reader in the character s story. He then places the character in situations that allow him to show his true colors. The protagonist will experience trials or rites of passage that test his integrity, honor, and courage. These tests are met with what Hemingway considers to be the ideal human reaction, what he would like to have done in the same situation.

For the first of the trials the protagonist always meets the challenge with strength and overcomes the obstacles. In these cases the main character puts forth courage and determination and the opposition is met and bested. In A Farewell to Arms Lieutenant Henry was in the midst of World War I. The Germans had just joined the Austrians in the fighting at the Italian front and the Italians were forced to retreat.

In the confusion of the large scale retreat there was talk of German soldiers impersonating Italian officers. Lieutenant Henry was brought aside and put in a line with other Italian officers who were to be questioned by the battle police. The first few men were questioned and then taken down by the river and shot. At this point it was clear that the battle police were not interested in learning the truth about the men. They already made their minds up about the people they were questioning. They believed the people standing in line to be Germans dressed up as Italians or legitimate Italian officers that had abandoned their men.

Either way they deserved to die. The situation is a trial. If he froze like the others had in the line then he would be shot for sure. If he ran for it he would probably be shot as well. The logical thing to do in this situation would be to run. However in a situation such as this it is impossible for one to think logically.

It comes down to an instinct, whether Henry can decide that he has a better chance running than waiting to be questioned. Being questioned and then shot doesn t take a decision. It just takes denial of the situation or a lack of the instinct that allows some to chance death (run) in order to avoid certain death (stay). Henry avoided death by running away from the battle police and jumping into the river. He showed when he was in a position of almost certain death he could be counted on to keep a level head. When put in an extraordinary situation he exhibited both strength and courage.

In The Old Man and the Sea the main character was introduced as an old, gentle fisherman down on his luck and past his prime. The Old man set out the morning of his eighty-fifth day without a fish and headed for deep water. He was going to go very far out with the hope of catching a big fish. When he got out into the ocean he lowered his bait on a hook into the water. At this point the reader sees the old man in a new light. The extent of his knowledge of fishing is greater than one at first could have imagined.

When he starts to feel a pull on the line that was lowered the deepest the reader first gets a glimpse into Santiago s thoughts. He knows exactly what the fish is doing six hundred feet below him just by the pull of the line. When the fish takes the hook the trial begins. He has experience and has brought many large marlins up before but none this big, even when he was younger.

The fish pulled his skiff out to sea for over two full days before the old man could kill it and tie it along side the boat. The marlin was two feet longer than the skiff. The old man suffered great discomfort while fighting the marlin. His hands were bleeding and always cramped. For longer than 48 hours he chose to hold the line that a marlin was pulling. His determination, experience, and strength proved to be too much for the fish.

The old wrinkled man who had not caught a single fish in eighty-five days had caught a marlin. In the beginning of the story the younger fishermen at the tavern would make jokes at his expense and the older ones would feel sorry for him. After catching a fish of this size he would never again be doubted or make fun of by his peers. He was a common fisherman no different than most from the village in which he lived. However his line was taken by an eighteen-foot marlin and he had the strength to best it.

Just as Ernest Hemingway uses trials to show strength in his protagonist he uses trials to show weakness. Man is not defined by his strength alone. Weakness shown by a man can be just as noble as strength in certain situations. Jean Paul Sartre said, that which does not kill me makes me stronger (Bartlett's Book of Quotations). Man s times of weakness can be a great force for strength. Certain tests are too great for any man.

What is important is how the man recovers from his defeat. The tougher the trial and the weaker one gets, the greater his potential for recovery and strength. Hemingway chose to end both The Old Man and the Sea and A Farewell to Arms with the main characters at their weakest point. In A Farewell to Arms Lieutenant Henry fell deeply in love with a nurse named Catherine Barkley. Late in the book Henry deserted the army and took Catherine to Switzerland.

They lived as a married couple on vacation and were both very happy. Catherine was pregnant and nearing the time she would give birth. She entered a hospital and began labor. Labor for her was very difficult and the doctor thought it would be best to operate. The caesarean section did not go well and the baby did not survive. Catherine died later on in the night.

Henry had lost a son and his love in one night. When Catherine was dying and Henry was at her side he remained strong on the outside. However inside he had worried that his love would die far before she went into labor. He suspected something would go wrong when the doctor told Catherine that she had narrow hips and that she should drink beer to keep the baby small. When she was in the hospital screaming for more gas because the pain was so bad he really began to show his weakness.

Henry s thoughts were as Hemingway wrote, She won t die. People don t die in childbirth nowadays. That is what all husbands thought. Yes, but what if she should die?

She won t die. She s just having a bad time But what if she should die? She won t die. She s all right.

But what if she should die? Hey, what about that? What If she should die? (A Farewell to Arms). Catherine was his one true weak point. He cared more for her life than he did for his own. In Switzerland Catherine was all he had.

When she died he lost everything. Most importantly he lost his strength. The man who overcame many trials in the beginning of the story was reduced to nothing. First he was common.

Then he showed his strength by overcoming obstacles in his way. Finally he is weak and devastated with nothing to look forward to. Hemingway wrote, But after I had got them [the nurses] out and shut the door and turned off the light it wasn t any good. It was like saying good-by to a statue. After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain (A Farewell to Arms). After taking in the eighteen-foot marlin the old man was tired, worn out, and far from shore.

One trial was done with. As he turned toward home he had had to tow the marlin along the side of the skiff. Sharks could smell the blood from the marlin and would follow the trail to the fish. The first shark was by itself and Santiago killed it after it took one bite of the fish. The man broke his knife on the shark and was left with only the oars and a club to defend his prize. The next two sharks took more meat off the marlin but the old man fought them off.

Hemingway writes, the shark came in a rush and the old man hit him as he shut his jaws. He hit him solidly and from as high up as he could raise the club Then he saw one on the surface swimming in circles. He did not see the fin of the other (The Old Man and the Sea). The sharks came again in greater numbers and when it was dark. Because of the dark he could not see well enough to fight them off. When he lost the club he took off the tiller and began to hit them with it.

The tiller broke and splintered off leaving him nothing else to fight the sharks with. That did not matter. The fish had already been eaten. The old man fitted the splintered end of the tiller onto the rudder and steered his skiff for the lights on the beach. It is easy when you are beaten, he thought.

I never knew how easy it was. And what beat you, he thought. Nothing, he said aloud. I went out too far (The Old Man and the Sea). This is his point of weakness.

The sharks beat him and stole his fish but he is too tired to think of anything but the fact that it is over. He was strong until the very end but he had been beaten. His weakness proved to be his pride. He went out to far and refused to give up on a dream. In the end he suffered from many scars and had nothing to show for it. From his defeat Santiago learned that he must know his strength and weakness in order to prevail.

In his novels Hemingway puts ordinary men through extraordinary situations and forces them to show valor, strength, courage, and weakness. Strength is admired in men. Weakness in a man is often looked down upon. Both however are characteristics that all men show.

A man s strength or a man s weakness alone does not define who he is. Through his literature Hemingway expresses a realist point of view. He writes about the world as he sees it and does not create a reality in his books that could not have actually happened. Hemingway writes to the common man.

His stories have a common male protagonist and common men can relate to the characters he creates. His work will be read for many years to come because he did not write about passing issues of the time, he wrote about human emotion and character. That is a subject that is of timeless interest to all people. Even though most of his novels are not set in the U. S. they will many times have Americans in them.

His books will always sell in the U. S. because the main character often has the attitude that he is just in another part of the world for an extended vacation. For the same reason I don t think that his books will sell particularly well in Europe and around the rest of the world. I was most drawn to Hemingway s ability to allow me to relate to characters whose situations had nothing in common with any that I have ever experienced. For this reason I plan on reading more of his novels.

One of the most important parts of Hemingway s writing is what he allows the reader to take away from the book. His readers become greatly involved in the story because they can identify with the main character. They see what the main character goes through, and they see how he reacts to tough situations. They then feel that if the common man in the story could overcome such great trials then there is hope for them as well.

Through Hemingway s novels a reader can gain hope and what more could one expect to get from a book.


Free research essays on topics related to: farewell to arms, influence on american, man and the sea, nobel prize for literature, beginning of the story

Research essay sample on Farewell To Arms Nobel Prize For Literature

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